The Second World War period drama The Resistance Banker is based on a true story of incredible bravery by a Dutch banker who manages to successfully defraud the Nazis of millions, which he channeled to the Dutch Resistance in order to slow down the Nazi war machine. Dutch banker Walraven van Hall sees that friends and business associates are disappearing, and he goes to the home of a Jewish family he had dealings with to find they had just committed suicide ( He later witnesses his Jewish neighbors being sent off in train cars). He decides to fight back against the Nazis, who occupy the Netherlands, using a method suited to his banking skills, inventing a scheme to help finance the Dutch resistance by funneling funds through a charitable fund that assists Dutch sailors stranded abroad by the war. He and his brother concoct a risky scheme to take out large loans with which the resistance can be financed .
However, as the war does not let up, the brothers come up with a further scheme of theft and forgery whereby tens of millions of Dutch guilders are taken out of the Dutch Bank right under the eyes of the Nazi occupiers. The scheme becomes the largest banking fraud in Dutch history. As the banking fraud operation grows larger, the more people know about it and the the more the Nazis become suspicious. The chance that a mistake will be made that will help the Nazi investigators who are investigating this matter increases and puts the whole scheme in jeopardy. Needless to say, the lives of the bankers of the resistance are at great risk . The entire story is fascinating and and reveals an aspect of World War 11 history that I had ever heard anything about before watching this movie. The Resistance Banker won critical acclaim in the Netherlands and was also hit at the box office in the Netherlands. The film has been selected to represent the Netherlands in the race for the 2019 foreign-language film Oscar. It is well worth watching.